The Celtics continued their hot start to the regular season with a 127-107 victory over the Washington Wizards Monday night at Capital One Arena.
Jaylen Brown picked up where he left off against the Miami Heat this past Friday, to finish with a game-high 36 points on 13-of-24 from the field, including 8-of-13 from 3-point territory to go along with six rebounds. Jayson Tatum added 33 points on 14-of-21 shooting and 4-of-9 from behind the arc to help Boston win it's third straight.
"We've got a lot of talent. We're going to be more talented than a lot of teams," Brown said in his postgame presser. "We just try to take advantage of all opportunities."
Kristaps Porzingis scored 15 points in his return to Washington D.C. after spending nearly two years there, while Jrue Holiday chipped in 11 points.
"This was home for a year-and-a-half," Porzingis said to reporters, "so definitely some good, good memories here."
Kyle Kuzma had a team-high 21 points for the Wizards, who fell to 1-2 on the year. Eugene Omoruyi netted 14 points, while three others had 11 points respectively in the blowout loss.
The Celtics led by as many as 26 to open the first quarter behind 16 points from Brown to give the C's a 42-19 advantage heading into the second period.
By halftime Boston was ahead 77-51 and Brown had 27 and six rebounds, before hitting his last bucket midway through the third quarter -- to put the Celtics comfortably up 37 points. Tatum dropped 17 to start the second half and all starters were able to rest in the final 12 minutes.
"It's nights like tonight where it's easy to take your foot off the gas," said Brown. "If you want to do what you say you want to do, we've got to come out and play the game the right way."
It's the second consecutive season the Celtics begin 3-0 and the last time they won over three straight to start a regular season was back in 2009-10.
"We think it's something we can control, the way we come out and start games," C's coach Joe Mazzulla said. "We just have too many good players and we have a chance. We're trying to make sure we come out with the right mindset the whole game. It doesn't mean it's going to go our way. I really liked our approach."
Boston will travel back home to host the Indiana Pacers (2-1) at TD Garden. Tip-off is at 7:30 pm ET.
Game Notes:
The Celtics hit 50% from the field, including 19-of-53 (35.8%) from 3, while Washington was 44.8% from the floor and 11-of-36 from beyond the arc. Boston out-rebounded the Wizards 51-40 and outscored them in the paint 52-48. The C's had 31 assists (18 turnovers) on 51 shots made to the home team's 26 dimes (15 turnovers) on 39 baskets.
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